Taipei Book Exhibition draws 580,000 visitors

Taipei, Feb. 13 (CNA) The annual Taipei International Book Exhibition concluded Monday, with the total number of visitors reaching 580,000 during its six-day run, the organizers said.

This year's exhibition, which highlighted Hungarian literature and culture, brought together 621 publishers from 59 countries.

Chao Cheng-ming (趙政岷), chairman of Taipei Book Fair Foundation, said attendance this year was the third highest in the exhibition's 25-year history, trailing only 600,000 in 2012 and 590,000 in 2011.

Chao said he hoped attendance will exceed 600,000 next year.

Deputy Culture Minister Ting Hsiao-ching (丁曉菁) announced, meanwhile, that next year's exhibition will put the spotlight on Israel, which will mark its 70th anniversary in 2018, as the theme country.

Israel's representative to Taiwan, Asher Yarden, said books are part of Israeli culture and that his office was very happy to have the opportunity to become a partner of the Taipei International Book Exhibition.

According to Chao, Israel began to vie to become the exhibition's 2018 theme country as early as six months ago.